Government systems withstood a barrage of over 1.4 million intrusion attempts during the weekend, with only four breaches recorded and 19 websites momentarily defaced, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said Monday, Sept. 22.

DICT Secretary Henry Aguda assured the public that the incidents had minimal impact.

“May mga attempts to breach, 1.4 million iyong nakita namin na attempts, ang dami niyan (There were attempts to breach, we recorded 1.4 million attempts, that’s a lot),” Aguda said in a Palace briefing.

“Kung makikita ninyo, apat lang iyong nakalusot (If you will see, only four got through),” he added.

Aguda said the cyber incidents coincided with the Sept. 21 nationwide rallies, including the so-called “Black Mask March.”

“Una sa lahat, malinaw ang direktiba ng Pangulo – igalang at protektahan ang karapatan ng bawat Pilipino sa mapayapang pagtitipon at malayang pagpapahayag (First of all, the President’s directive is clear – respect and protect every Filipino’s right to peaceful assembly and free expression),” he said.

According to Aguda, the protest calls circulating online originated from Anonymous PH, a hacktivist group.

He added that the DICT is already coordinating with the group and keeping watch on several persons of interest.

To counter online threats, DICT said it implemented Oplan Cyberdome, a whole-of-country cybersecurity approach.

“Kasabay ng mga aktibidad na ito, aktibong pinatutupad ng DICT ang ‘Oplan Cyberdome’ bilang isang whole-of-country approach sa cybersecurity (Alongside these activities, the DICT actively implemented ‘Oplan Cyberdome’ as a whole-of-country approach to cybersecurity),” Aguda explained.

He stressed that law enforcement, telcos, social media platforms, private corporations, and the broader cyber community worked together.

The DICT chief clarified that while 19 websites were defaced, they represented a small portion of the country’s digital infrastructure.

“Subalit po may naitala po kami, 19 na website ng gobyerno ang naka-experience po ng defacement… iyong 19 po out of almost 60,000 apps and website ng bansa so maliit lang po iyong naging epekto nito (However, we recorded 19 government websites that experienced defacement… the 19 is out of almost 60,000 apps and websites in the country so the impact was small),” he said.

Aguda stated that among the affected sites were the Bureau of Customs (BOC), DICT, ARTA’s free SIM educational platform, and DEPDev.

“I think one of them is BOC pero sandali lang iyon eh, hindi ninyo halos naramdaman eh (I think one of them is BOC but it was very brief, you hardly noticed it),” Aguda said.

“The other one is—there was once sa DICT pero mabilis din na naayos, hindi ninyo rin halos naramdaman. The fourth one is DEPDev it’s a—information lang siya, tapos naglagay lang silang logo nila, tapos again na –kaya nga hindi ninyo halos naramdaman eh (The other one was at DICT but it was quickly fixed, you hardly noticed it. The fourth one is DEPDev, it’s just information, they only placed their logo, and again—you hardly noticed it),” he added.

Aguda noted that there were no successful cyberattacks traced to foreign actors.

“Walang naitalang matagumpay na cyberbreach din po mula sa overseas o tinatawag po nating ‘nation state actors’ (There were no successful cyber breaches from overseas or what we call ‘nation state actors’),” he said.